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Cast of Characters

Haus Frau: Narrator of the Story, Woman of the House
Haus Meister: Man of the House, Valiant Slayer of Dragons
Trooper (13): Former preemie, tallest kid in the house, knows how to use an iPad better than his Mom. Trucks are still all the rage for him.
Rascal (11): Future Mechanical Design Engineer and LEGO maniac. He has an explanation for almost everything.
Dino (10): Resident expert on Star Wars LEGOs. Or his version of Star Wars. He has a story to tell.
Princess (8): She's all girl. This is not a nickname; it IS her identity.
Sunshine (7): Busy bee. She's a hyper hobbit.
Miss M: (5) A spunky cherub. Hikes with the big boys, doll in tow.
Posey Pie (3): Dainty Darling. Future tour guide.
Little Bit: (2) Curly-headed Feisty Little One. She packs a punch.
Rosebud: (7 mos) "Princess Pudgycheeks" is officially scooting.

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A bit of fun

Trail Life

I left this blog stuck in the Triduum and here we are in the second week of the Easter Season. Happy Easter! He is Risen, He is Risen indeed!

An Easter family picture, which pretty much encompasses pretty, happy, funny & real. From the spunky lass who snuck to the back step when she was told to stand in the front, to the boy who forgot to tuck in his shirt, Trooper’s cheesy grin, and Posey pinching me while looking so sweetly… Ah, life. It’s good.

More “Pretty Happy” about Easter…

The Lamb cake survived! I used a Betty Crocker gluten free cake mix so that our whole party could enjoy it (we had 18 people over for dinner. It was great!). Of course, Miss M had to point out that it looked like a dog. So it’s a lamb-dog cake. Again.

Happy

Lace curtains always make me happy.

Little Bit always makes us smile. Hard to believe she’ll be two at the end of the month.

I promised the boys that we’d begin to do something to their room this month, and no sooner did I begin to try an idea than they ran wild with it and now they’re eager to finish. It’s a good incentive to get school done. 😉

We joked that since it matches their Trail Life calendar, then it’s the “Trail Life Room”!

The Little People Cinderella was totally left there by a little sister who had come in to observe.

I know a lot of the blog pictures have to do with the girls, so here’s the other two boys. 🙂

Funny Real.

Hello, my nickname is Sunshine, because I’m an energetic warm beam of fun and light in my house. I just lost two front teeth, cut my hair (Dad and Mom did damage control), and specialize in taking phone pictures. I have been known to take 132 pictures of “Little Bear” while watching it on Amazon Prime. Lately, Mom found about 30 pictures of random items on the floor before it got swept. Famously, The Spoon and The Spaghetti Noodle.

I am sorry to have neglected ye Olde Blog, but honestly, if I had to sit and write out my thoughts over this past month in something long enough to count (not a Facebook update, for instance), it’d have gone something like this:

Oh please let this house sale go through. Please let this house sale go through. Please don’t let the house inspector go bonkers because the house is 60yrs old. Please let the buyer’s FHA appraisal pass. What if none of this happens? Please let this go through.

In other words, I still have much to work in the Faith and Trust Department. By the grace of God and no doubt the intercession of a few saints, the Old Haus will likely close next week. It could have been tomorrow, but the flood insurance transfer got stuck in paper limbo. The house inspector was pretty merciful (there were a couple of lines that had Haus Meister and I laughing–like how the railing attached to the house next to the back steps might fall off and hit a car?!). The appraisal passed with no repairs needed. The buyer still wants the house and didn’t ask for additional repairs beyond a few small things recommended in the inspection. A far cry from the offer we had to reject in 2014– Mr.-You’re-paying-my-closing-but-I-also-want-you-to-pay-15K-in-upgrades-and-while-I’m-at-it-let’s-give-you-4k-less-than-the-previously-agreed-price. I’m sure he has a name, but that’s how I recall him, bless his heart.

I need to work on Charity, too….

So I’m relieved mixed with anxious (we still have six days til closing) mixed with a little sad. We will never call that place home again now, really. It won’t be ours. It will be someone else’s cobbled walkway and someone else’s yellow elm tree and someone else’s familiar creaks in the old floor. On the other hand, it will be someone else’s mortgage. And we can return to fixing up the lovely house we live in now. Not a bad plan, that.

Pretty

Our pretty little girl on her 7th Birthday. She picked out the dress, the tiara, and the boots. It is good to be 7, and a Princess.

Happy

Everyone in the family who is kindergarten age on up participated in the Mudstache Run, an obstacle course/race benefiting our Trail Life troop here in the area.

Princess and Dino were in the first race, a 0.5mile course. Princess is ahead of Dino, her bright flowered headband blending into the shirt of the person in front of her. Dino is running in his John Deere boots. We couldn’t find his sneakers before the race. Keeping it real, here!

Rascal was too fast for me to take a picture. He and his best friend ran the 1 mile course.

Here I am, huffing and puffing behind Sunshine who ran the Adaptive Race (also 0.5 mi). She enjoyed herself so much that she ran the course two and a half more times. I also need some work in the Running Department.

Haus Meister ran with Trooper in the Adaptive Race, too. Trooper and Sunshine both came in first for their groups. Princess came in second in her age group, and the other two boys did a fine job and are already planning to medal next year. 😉

Funny

Ben Hatke’s latest,Little Robot, is a huge hit around here. I kept finding children reading it at various times in various places.

Real

Well, we did something bold last month. We signed up to have our picture taken for the parish directory. I’m pleased to say it turned out well, and here’s a picture of a picture of the family!

So in this year’s installment, Dino ISN’T wearing a hat, everyone is FACING FORWARD, and mostly smiling. Miss M did not like the way the photographer was trying to get her to smile and the only way to convince her not to jump on my lap was to hold her as I was doing. Sunshine insisted on bringing her ragged “BabyDoll” inside and we decided not to fight that battle as we didn’t know how she’d do with the picture taking anyway. Fortunately she’s holding the doll’s face against her and that’s good because the week before she’d colored it purple and the last thing I wanted to do in my Christmas letter is to explain that my daughter is not in the habit of asphyxiating her dolls. Just coloring them.

Haus Meister, Rascal, & Dino went camping last week with their Trail Life troop.

They had a great time in a breathtaking area.

Rascal says he wants to live here when he grows up. Partly because of the sheer natural beauty, and partly because a Lodge at the Park serves hot cocoa in July.

Meanwhile…

This beautiful 10 week old likes her new toy.

Happy

Rascal the happy biker.

Haus Meister & Dino–happy hikers. That’s Dino’s “T-Rex” imitation.

While the boys were camping, Princess and I went to Sweet Frog Frozen Yogurt.

There you fill your own cup with flavorful frozen yogurt, then add toppings. I had strawberry cheesecake with sliced strawberries and chocolate chips on top. My eyes may or may not have been larger than my stomach.

In other news, Dino outgrew his beat-up worn-in John Deere boots (he got a gently used pair on eBay in his correct size) so someone absconded the old pair.

Funny

Posey takes “tea”…

…and pictures of her feet.

Real

Hard to believe it, but school is going to start up again soon. I mailed off the enrollment forms for the next school year. Publix already has school supplies in the front kiosk (I am already stocking up on glue). The Land’s End backpack catalog arrived, which is kind of amusing since we don’t really use backpacks, but the kids picked out their favorites anyway (no, I didn’t buy them. I don’t unless we need luggage). ThredUp is having a pretty neat back-to-school “rewards” program (and you’ll get $$ off your purchase with that link). The weather even cooled off enough this morning to give the illusion of Fall, and enable us to turn off the a/c. However, it’s still summer, and the hottest month in the region is 17 days away or so.

And our intrepid swimmers participate in the final meet of the Fun League tonight!

As of tonight, this fourth generation Scouting family is no longer part of the Boy Scouts of America. The reasons we leave are simple and are stated pretty well below. This isn’t hate speech or bigotry. Our hope is to raise our boys to be men of values and virtue. Today the BSA showed that it was not a trustworthy organization to help us achieve that end. I respect your right to disagree with us, and I hope you will respect our right to this opinion as well.

The Boy Scouts of America has a logo that bears the phrase ‘Timeless Values.’ Today, the BSA can no longer use this phrase in good faith. It has demonstrated by its actions that the organization’s values are not timeless, and instead they are governed by changing tides of polls, politics and public opinion.

The saddest part of today’s decision is what the organization is teaching our children and young people in the program.

The BSA is teaching our kids that when your values become unpopular, just change them.

The BSA is teaching our kids that when your convictions are challenged, just cave to peer pressure.

The BSA is teaching our kids that public opinion polls are more important than principles.

Today, the BSA is teaching our kids that you should not stand up for what is right; instead you should stand up for what is popular.

The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to “prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law.”

BSA is teaching our kids through its new mission that we don’t make ethical and moral choices through the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law but we make them like an unprincipled politician does, by putting your finger in the air and seeing which way the wind is blowing or by looking at the latest polling results.

What kind of a message are we sending to young people about being brave when its top adult leaders don’t even have the courage to stand up to the pressure of a militant lobby when the bullies in Washington DC, Hollywood or even some of their own renegade councils start pressuring and harassing them?